ABOVE: Megan Sheehan says police used excessive force the night of her arrest – and now, body camera footage appears to contradict what police initially say happened.
WARNING: Story contains graphic details. Viewer discretion is advised.
TORONTO – A San Francisco woman is suing the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) Police Department, claiming that body camera footage contradicts what police say happened to her the night of her arrest.
Bartender and model Megan Sheehan was in the Lake Merritt BART station in Oakland, California on St. Patrick’s Day of last year when she was arrested by transit enforcement officers.
She admits that the first part of the officer’s body camera footage doesn’t look good for her, as the clearly inebriated woman is confrontational and belligerent with police.
“I was so embarrassed when I saw the videos. I can’t believe what I was saying. I was just so belligerent and foolish,” Sheehan told CBS News.
Still, Sheehan says that’s no excuse for what happened next, after police took her to Santa Rita jail outside of Oakland, California.
In police body camera footage originally obtained by ABC News 7, Sheehan is being booked at Santa Rita when some sort of altercation ensues between her and the BART officer.
“Don’t touch me like that!” Sheehan is heard saying, before she is violently thrown to the ground by the BART officer.
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She says the impact of the fall left her hospitalized for two days.
“I had a gash above my left eye, I had a few stitches there. I had four broken bones around my orbital socket, and stitches in my lip…They knocked out a tooth, and chipped another one,” Sheehan said.
But the police report from the BART officer paints a very different picture, with the unidentified officer saying Sheehan “suddenly turned towards me and began violently punching with a closed fist at my face.”
“To protect myself from her attack…I used an arm-bar take-down and guided her to the ground.”
After her stay in hospital, Sheehan was returned to Santa Rita jail and eventually released on bail. She says no criminal charges were ever filed against her.
“I was already arrested, I was already in custody, there was police all around and I don’t know why they had to use that much force,” Sheehan said.
The BART police department told CBS news they could not comment due to the pending litigation.
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